Friday, June 29, 2012

What You Didn't Know - Majalah 3 Taiwan

I'm totally excited about my return to Majalah 3! And my first story will be aired tomorrow. Yahoo! It's also one of the most challenging story for me. Emotionally on location and physically during post production.There's so many things to share about my experience with this story that I don't know where to start. How about some did-you-know's? Yeah, I'll do do that.Did you know....1. 90% of the shoot was done in Tzu Chi University, Hualien, Taiwan.

In the morgue

2. The university is 100% vegetarian. Lucky us!

3. We got our own bowl and water container to eat at the campus cafeteria. Everyone washes their own utensils. Go green!

Breakfast4. This was my second time there, doing this story. First time was 6 years agofor MedikTV. And this time around it's more detailed and comprehensive.

5. I met the same Malaysian student I met 6 years ago. Back then she was a first year student. Now she's an intern.

6. It's summer in Taiwan and there were sand flies in Hualien that bites. Many people were seen scratching away, including us. And my technician got it worse..

They itch!

7. I experienced my first earth quake. It was 5 am and my bed just shook. I was frightened but went back to bed soon after because I was informed that quakes are a norm in Hualien.

8. It was my first time shooting in HD (semangat after the Singapore HD workshop).9. 90% of the shoot was done with DSLR camera.

Canon 5D Mark II

10. The crew and I were on location as early as 4am to shoot the technicians preparing the bodies.11. The first time I came face to face with all the bodies exposed in the operation theater, I dared not step inside until they were all covered.

12. Throughout the shoot I stayed in a 3-bedroom apartment ALONE! No, nothing weird happened. Alhamdulillah.. The crew were 2 floors above me.

Living room, dining room and kitchen at the back13. I cried during the burial ceremony...

14. I gave a token to the family of the deceased. They decided to top it up and donate the money to the university.

15. The mother of the 33-year-old made me cry (again) during her speech although I didn't understand a word she was saying.

16. We spent 8 days in Taiwan but we only had an hour to go Taipei city center, which was just before we board the flight back home.

Taipei 101 - Tallest building in the world (still?)

17. I had tissues beside me when I edited the story.

18. The external hard disk (that contained ALL the visuals from the shoot) was suddenly unreadable...6 days before transmission!!!19. I made backups for all my files and my editing project as a safety measure. So I didn't lose anything. Phew! My precaution paid off.

Main external hard disk, back up hard disk and my trusted MacBook Pro

20. Had so many technical difficulties along the way because of my first experience with HD. It wasn't pretty. Late nights / no sleep / no eat...alas, I got through it!

Totally satisfied that it's finally done and ready to roll! Don't forget to watch the show this Saturday (tomorrow!) at 9pm. I'll just post the promo again. Feel free to share it! Appreciate the support :)

Who Am I?

A TV producer and a presenter. Been working with TV3 since 2004 and involved in programmes such as MedikTV, Majalah 3, Stock Watch and Bijak Wang. Hosted Bersamamu and currently Wanita Hari Ini (WHI) on TV3. Also working as one of the producers for Majalah 3.
Married to Mer, the most amazing man I've ever known and proud mother to Raees Aryan, born 25 Aug 2009 and Razeen Ayman, born 18 June 2014 :) Despite having to occasionally go for outstation assignments, I managed to fully breastfeed Raees for 2 years and 4 months. Alhamdulillah.. Hope to achieve the same for Razeen.